


Other sundry happenings on the 26th of June 2010

by tenlittlebullets



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-25 18:04:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/641549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tenlittlebullets/pseuds/tenlittlebullets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three stone Daleks, a UNIT doctor, and an interdimensional traveler walk into a traffic jam--stop me if you've heard this one before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Other sundry happenings on the 26th of June 2010

**Author's Note:**

> Comment!fic for the [Bechdel Test Comment Ficathon II](http://penny-lane-42.livejournal.com/244264.html): mollivanders requested "The alternate universe grows dim, and Rose runs back a second time. This time she finds Martha."

This time, the veil between the worlds wasn't thin enough to give her an easy trip.

Rose was conscious only of a crushing impact and the fleeting thought of _this must be what it feels like to die_ , and then she wasn't conscious of anything for a while. When she woke up, it was to blinding light and pain: her body was one giant bruise, and her head felt like it was about to split open.

A shadow hovered in front of her face, blocking out the worst of the light, and Rose blinked. Blinked again. As her eyes adjusted, the shadow resolved itself into a familiar face. "She's back with us," the woman called over her shoulder.

"Martha," Rose murmured, the name coming back to her. "You're Martha Jones."

"That's me," said Martha. "You're safe, Rose. But take it easy, yeah? You're pretty badly concussed."

Rose closed her eyes, leaning back against the pillow that someone--Martha?--had propped under her head, taking stock of the situation. She was lying on concrete; there were sirens in the distance, crackled voices on short-range radios nearby, and she'd caught a confused glimpse of roads and police tape behind Martha. "Oooh, this is embarrassing," she said, cracking a pained smile without opening her eyes. "Two dimensions, all of time and space, God only knows how many alien menaces, and I'm laid up with a concussion in front of one of the only people on Earth who know I've got a reputation to uphold."

Martha laughed above her and squeezed her hand. "You shot out of a dimensional portal going faster than half the cars on the motorway where you came out, you've got a right to a bloody concussion."

"Of all the coincidences, though."

"But it isn't a coincidence, see. Who else did you think UNIT would send for when we've got a gap between dimensions, three petrified Daleks backing up traffic on the M25, and an unconscious woman wearing combat gear and a whole lot of non-Earth technology? They don't have that many people with medical training _and_ that kind of security clearance."

Rose's smile broke into a grin. "So they called for a doctor, and there you were."

"Pretty much, yeah."

After that Rose drifted off into actual sleep. When she woke up, the daylight was less blinding and Martha was still there holding her hand.

"There's one thing I can't work out," Martha said after a minute. "Petrified Daleks, I won't ask. Impossible interdimensional travel, you've done it before. But why did you come back?"

Rose winced, but the soul-deep agony she'd felt in her last days in Pete's World was gone, replaced by good honest physical pain. "The stars were going out," she whispered. "There was only the sun, and it _hurt_ \--like a part of me was on fire and being ripped apart. We never knew what caused it. Nobody but us--the people who'd been on the TARDIS--even remembered what stars were."

Martha's hand squeezed hers tightly. "And the rest of them, your mum and dad and your Doctor, what happened to them?"

"I don't know," Rose admitted, chewing on her lower lip. "We all punched through the dimensional barrier together at the place where it was thinnest, but that was the natural history museum, and we're nowhere near there, are we?"

"So they could've come out anywhere. If they made it."

"They made it," Rose insisted. "They must have."

For a long, awkward moment, Martha looked like she was biting back a doubtful response, and for an even longer and more awkward moment she looked like she wanted to give Rose a hug but didn't quite dare disturb her position on the pillows. Her difficulty was cut short by a clunking, whirring noise behind them that Rose had become far too familiar with lately.

"Martha?"

"Yeah?"

"I forgot to tell you a couple of things when I woke up. The first one is, I feel a lot better. I could probably get back on my feet now."

"Let's not get too hasty, all right?"

"The second one is--those stone Daleks in the museum had a nasty habit of not staying dead."

There was a sudden cry of "EXTERMINATE" behind them, and Martha narrowly dodged an energy bolt from the Dalek trundling up the motorway. She grabbed Rose's hand again and pulled her up. "I hope you're right about the first one!"

"So do I, now _run_!"

They clutched each other's hands, and ran.


End file.
